How to Fathom Inquisition

I believe man is capable of much more than what is awarded. If only we as individuals would take the time to explore our own minds.

I was out on an abandoned bridge one night with my friends, and I can recall being pulled away from all conversation and social activity. Reality slipped away for a few moments and I was simply a man admiring a multitude of lightening bugs, all gathering in a dense, moon-lit valley. Everything was still and very serene. The clouds, illuminated from behind by the moon, were stacked on top of one another, making me feel so much smaller. My ears were over-whelmed by an organic orchestra constructed of late-night birds and crickets. For a moment I escaped. For that moment I was no longer a high school student, I was not a son, a brother, or an employee. I was not a friend or an enemy. I just was.

I spent the rest of that night pondering what it was that caused such an epiphany. That single experience altered my thinking forever. I realized then that we all have potential to understand so much more, if only you will stop and appreciate things for what they are. It is not our duty to complicate things, but we do it anyway. Life is difficult enough as is, yet we dramatize situations, or simply objects, into something of much greater magnitude. Settling your thoughts on one thing at a time allows you to clearly examine that one specific thing, rather than try to decide on one of the million thoughts you put into your own head. If you look at things for what they are, it leads to an exploration of self, which can only result in being a learning experience, at the least.

I understand that everyone is different, but I also understand that we are all human. We are all able.

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Growing up in the former Yugoslavia, lawyer Djenita Pasic enjoyed the peace of her religiously diverse country. But after the fall of communism and the outbreak of the Bosnian War, Pasic was forced to reevaluate her ideas about religion and tolerance. Click here to read her essay.